1828 in Scotland explained

Events from the year 1828 in Scotland.

Incumbents

Law officers

• Lord Advocate – Sir William Rae, Bt
• Solicitor General for Scotland – John Hope

Judiciary

• Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Granton
• Lord Justice General – The Duke of Montrose
• Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Boyle

Events

• 7 January – Rev. Henry Duncan describes his discovery of the fossil footmarks of quadrupeds (Chelichnus duncani) in Permian red sandstone at Cornockle Muir, near Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, the first scientific report of a fossil track, in a paper read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.^[1]
• 9 March – an English gang make off with £28,350 after holding up the Glasgow branch of the Greenock Bank.^[2]
• April – David Stow opens his Drygate model school in Glasgow.^[3]
• 15 June – 28 people are killed when the north gallery of the Old Kirk, Kirkcaldy, collapses during a sermon by popular preacher Edward Irving.^[2]
• 8 August – the Ballochney Railway (near Airdrie, horse worked) is completed throughout.^[4]
• 10 September – first public demonstration of Rev. Patrick Bell's reaping machine on his family's farm.^[5]
• 17–24 December – Burke and Hare murders trial in Edinburgh:^[6] William Burke is sentenced to hang for his part in the murder of 17 victims (up to 31 October) to provide bodies for dissection by anatomist Robert Knox; his accomplice William Hare is released having turned King's evidence.
• Inhabitants of the island of Muck emigrate to Nova Scotia.^[7]
• St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh, is completed^[8] to the design of William Henry Playfair.
• Caird & Company established by John Caird in Greenock as marine engineers.
• James Beaumont Neilson patents the hot blast process for ironmaking.^[9]
• A steam road coach constructed by James and George Naysmith runs between Leith and Queensferry.^[8]
• Glasgow Co-operative Society established.^[10]

Births

• 4 April – Mrs. Oliphant, born Margaret Wilson, novelist and historical writer (died 1897 in London)
• 16 August – John Waddell, railway contractor (died 1888)
• 30 September – John Simpson Knox, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (died 1897 in England)
• 5 October – Alexander Gunn, grocery wholesaler (died 1907 in Canada)
• 1 November – Balfour Stewart, physicist (died 1887 in Ireland)
• 13 December – Alexander Shand, 1st Baron Shand, judge (died 1904)
• Alexander Crum, textile printer and Liberal politician (died 1893)
• Robert Doull, merchant and politician (died 1906 in Canada)
• John Small, librarian and scholar (died 1886)

Deaths

• 29 February – John Ainslie, cartographer (born 1745)
• 11 June – Dugald Stewart, Enlightenment philosopher (born 1753)
• 5 July – Andrew Duncan, physician (born 1744)
• 20 December – Archibald Fletcher, reforming lawyer (born 1746)
• Robert Blair, astronomer (born 1748)
• William Drummond of Logiealmond, diplomat and philosopher (born c.1770)

The arts

• The Maitland Club is founded in Glasgow to edit and publish early Scottish texts.^[11]
• The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell is published.^[12]
• Sir Walter Scott's novel The Fair Maid of Perth (or St. Valentine's Day; Chronicles of the Canongate, 2nd series) is published.

See also

• 1828 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Henry. Duncan. An Account of the Tracks and Footmarks of Animals found impressed on Sandstone in the Quarry of Cornockle Muir in Dumfriesshire. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 11. 1. January 1828. 194–209. 10.1017/S0080456800021906. 131478019 . 2016-04-17. Published 1831.
2. Web site: Notable Dates in History . The Flag in the Wind . . 2014-08-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140808044706/https://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-e.htm . 8 August 2014 .
3. Morse. Elizabeth J.. 2004. Stow, David (1793–1864). 10.1093/ref:odnb/26609. 2015-11-07.
4. Book: David Octavius Hill. David Octavius. Hill. George. Buchanan. George Buchanan (engineer born 1790). Views of the Opening of the Glasgow and Garnkirk Railway. Also an Account of That and Other Railways in Lanarkshire. Edinburgh. 1832.
5. Web site: The Reverend Patrick Bell. On this day in Scotland. 2011-04-22. 2016-03-10.
6. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
7. Book: Haswell-Smith, Hamish. Muck. The Scottish Islands. 132. https://books.google.com/books?id=bXFwKl5gVqwC&pg=SA3-PA20 . Rev.. Edinburgh. Canongate. 2008. 9781847672773. 2014-09-10.
8. Web site: History of Edinburgh. Visions of Scotland. 2014-08-02. 14 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150214170220/http://www.visionsofscotland.co.uk/EdinHistory.htm. dead.
9. Book: Gale, W.K.V.. Ironmaking. Princes Risborough. Shire Publications. 1981. 0-85263-546-X. 22.
10. Book: Chamier, George. 151. When it Happened in Scotland. Constable. London. 2009. 978-1-84901-006-1.
11. Book: History of the Maitland Club. 80. 1859.
12. Book: Cox, Michael. The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. 2004. 0-19-860634-6. registration.